Guardian Angel
by EarlGreyTea
Summary: Casey and Sam are over... Why? Derek, of course. DASEY
1. Chapter 1

Our guardian angel is not always a heavenly creature with wings. Our angels are the people who help us when we fall down and, if we have gotten out of hand, they may have been the person who tripped us in the first place.

Casey was at the end of her patience. With Emily out of town and Lizzie preoccupied with a boy named Seth, Casey had no outlet.

Things with Sam just weren't working out… again. Casey could not remember what exactly they had thought would be different in the "second chance" deal.

Sam was a sweet guy. But almost, too sweet. He always went to whichever restaurant Casey chose, agreed to see a chick-flick and had occasionally missed hockey practice for her. It was exactly this blind compliance which Casey was about to call Sam about. It had to end.

Why? Casey would not have dreamed of the answer had it not quite literally slapped her in the face.

Derek had been on edge recently. Everyone noticed. He stayed to himself mostly. The arguments with Casey, though less frequent, had grown more heated and Derek and Sam were absolutely no longer friends. After the third hockey puck to the face, Derek snapped.

This evening's spectacle began at the dinner table as per usual in the Venturi-Macdonald residence. Edwin, Lizzie and Marti were entranced by a long, slightly disorganized, and poorly delivered joke George was telling. Meanwhile, Casey was detailing to her mother the perfect picnic date she just finished planning with Sam.

"… So, I'll take care of the food and he will be covering the plates and utensils." Casey breathed, having apparently not done so through the better part of her description.

"Sounds like a great idea, honey," Nora said while trying to manage a bite full of macaroni and a smile.

Derek rolled his eyes. "Oh, be honest Nora." His gaze shifted to Casey across the table. "No one cares, Casey."

"I care, Derek," Casey shrieked, displeasure etched on her previously happy face.

Nora took this moment to leave the room, at least long enough to miss the main event. As soon as her back was turned, Derek reached over the table and slapped Casey on the cheek. Color filled his own cheeks as Derek began screaming at Casey.

"Do you really care about Sam? Or are you just afraid to admit it… You need a challenge. You need one in school. You need one when dance, even when you clean for the love of holy hell! What makes your interaction with boys so different? There is no difference, is there Case?"

Casey was speechless. For the first time in their aggravated co-existence, Casey had no quick retort. Could what Derek said possibly be true? How is it that he could see it and she couldn't? For that matter, since when did he care?

The more Casey thought about it, the more ideas in her head suddenly became confused. One this was clear. She and Sam were over.

Derek was many things. He was stubborn and he was slightly immature. He was NOT, however, stupid. That means, despite his grades in school, Derek had common sense. Common sense currently told him that he… liked Casey? It was illogical but it was true. Or maybe, it was so logical, it seemed crazy.

After all, who was Casey? Preppy, perfectionist, princess. Derek's sports playing, messy, self-righteous opposite.

Unfortunately, Derek's smartness ended at acknowledging his feelings. Dealing with them was an entirely different matter.

The best course of action, given the odds that Casey felt the same way, was steering clear as much as possible. For Derek, it was impossible.

At dinner, he had crossed the line. He regretted slapping Casey and, after Casey retreated to her room, he seriously considered going to apologize. He had not intended to make a physical confrontation. In fact, he hadn't even really wanted a verbal confrontation. He just sort of blurted it out before thinking. Word vomit. It was both the cause of the problem and the reason Derek would not go up to fix the problem. He didn't trust himself not to betray his feelings.

The fact that Casey and Sam's relationship wasn't working was true. He saw it in her eyes as he had finished his speech.

"Smerek! Smerek!" Marti's call broke Derek's reverie. "Come color with me!"

Derek sighed dramatically. Not that anyone could hear, but it felt good. "Coming Smarti!"


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer. I don't own anything. I don't think anyone on owns anything. Can we make the universal disclaimer? Please?

Casey stood in her room, pacing back and forth. Cell phone in hand and Sam's number already dialed, Casey finally hit the send button.

It was summer, luckily, so any bad PR Sam decided to spread would die out long before school started again. With the Klutzilla reputation already working against her, Casey could not afford a bad girlfriend rep.

Ring. Casey silently hoped that she wouldn't have many break-up calls in her future.

Ring. Derek must have known that there were already existing problems in regards to Sam. Was Derek jealous? And if he was jealous. . . Was he jealous of Casey? Or _Sam_ even? It was all too confusing. Casey's perfectly manicured fingers suddenly found themselves the victim of her teeth. The fighting between Derek and Casey had subdued itself to the level of aggravated co-existence. With this though, Casey came to the decision to make a sincere effort to get to know the Derek Venturi behind all the self-absorbed stubbornness.

"... Casey? Casey, are you there?"

"Yeah. Uh. Sam. Uh." Beautifully said Casey, she thought with a mental slap. "We need to talk."

"..." Silence.

Having never broken up with someone over the phone, Casey could only guess that silence was an invitation to speak.

"I don't think – actually, I know things aren't working out... between us, that is."

It was happening. Derek could tell. The floor shaking caused by Casey's brisk pace back and forth had ended and the soft hum of Tchaikovsky had abruptly come to a halt.

He had gotten to her. And now she was single. Derek froze. He had the perfect opportunity. Well, not exactly. Derek was neither eloquent with words, nor completely sure that he really _liked_ Casey. Anyone trying to gain Casey's affection, love even, should have both qualities.

I'm a coward, Derek thought. Derek shut off his game of Tetris and stretched out on his bed.

The Sleeping Beauty waltz floated through the wall. Derek was slightly alarmed that he recognized the classical piece. Derek's eyes fluttered closed and he drifted off to a very deep sleep.

Breaking up wasn't nearly as hard as Casey had thought it would be. Casey felt so good in fact that she couldn't imagine why she hadn't thought of doing it in the first place.

Derek's door was slightly ajar, so Casey knocked only half-heartedly while letting herself in.

Casey smiled. Derek was sound asleep, sprawled across his surprisingly clean bed. Derek's left hand clutched a small, brown teddy bear that had clearly seen better days.

Not wishing to disturb him, Casey retreated back to her room. But not without one last glance at the boy who was becoming more attractive by the moment.


End file.
